By Linda

"I'm a forty-eight-year-old woman with ASD. On September 16, 2016, I was diagnosed with Asperger's Disorder. When I was six years old, I was misdiagnosed with a Nonverbal Learning Disability. However, My current psychiatrist noticed some Autism traits in me, for which she sent me for a developmental evaluation with a neuropsychologist. Therefore, the test results came back positive for Asperger's Disorder. I rock myself to self-soothe and I have a fixed interest in stuffed animals (sharks), which I use to comfort me when I isolate myself. I have special abilities in music and math, I'm a walking calendar, and I have excellent abilities to memorize dates and birthdays. I'm fascinated with sharks. I have an Associate of Arts Degree in Chemistry. I graduated with honors.

The work I do presently is medical accounting and medical coding. I hold two coding credentials. I've been married for twenty-three years and we have three cats. The ASD diagnosis gave me more insight into the problems I had as a child and now as an adult. I didn't understand my level of discomfort in social situations. I like to isolate myself in order to shut down my senses when I feel overwhelmed. For example, I was in my neuropsychologist's office with my husband and I thought he was tapping, but the doctor said that he was not tapping. She said that there were construction three offices down the hall. The neuropsychologist also said it was sensory stimuli ASD which I was experiencing.

I have always felt different from my peers. For example, I started playing the flute when I was eight years old and reading music too. I have difficulty recognizing social cues and gestures. For example, when I was in high school, I was working for a bakery and I didn't realize my supervisor was angry at me until I was written up. In conclusion, it was a sigh of relief to find out that most of my social and communication problems were due to ASD in my life situations.

I have three lovable cats: Tigger, Midway, and Bo. Tigger always finds away to get into trouble. All three cats are from the same litter. My husband and I got the cats when they were four weeks old. I named the cats: Tigger because he looks like a tiger with gray and black stripes, Midway—black and white fur—aircraft carrier from World War II, and Bo, a big robust cat with black and gray coloring. The cats provide comfort when I'm stressed. Tigger knows how to open doors ever since he was a kitten. He's a Hubble, amazing cat. The cats' ears have incredible sensory functions and also the cats' whiskers have the same abilities. The walls have ears, which brings back good memories of life. I love to hear the cats purr. It brings happiness to me. In summary, I absolutely love my cats."